Şirince

I don't much feel like writing a lot right now, but fortunately, we had a rather laidback day so hopefully I won't need to! After waking up at 8:30 to have breakfast, I went back to sleep and didn't wake up for real until 1:00––ahhh, so restful. While I was snoozing, Marcos went and sightsaw at St. John's Basilica (did you know St. John wrote Revelations?) and took my camera to take "touristy" shots with. Even though I didn't get to see it, I feel like I did with all the photos! And now you can, too. St. John's Basilica was built in the 500s by Justinian the somethingth, around the tomb of St. John, Jesus' most trusted apostle. It is now in ruins, but has been somewhat reconstructed in parts. It's also really big! Here's a small(ish) sample of the shots Marcos brought back. (Also, for those of you who might not already know, you can click on the photos to make them bigger!)

Some lovely detailing

View of the town castle 

View of the south part of the town from the basilica

Storks!

A tortoise!!!

More lovely detailing 

St. John's Tomb from one angle 

And from another!

More of the basilica, including the tomb

Tiny amphitheater?

A model of what the basilica would look like if intact

He also visited the very derelict Temple of Artemis. It originally had 127 columns, but now only one remains (and was, of course, reconstructed). Storks live on it. I'm sure Artemis is pleased. Part of the floor of the temple is now a pool.

Marcos and I chilled out at the apartment for the afternoon, then freshened up and headed to Şirince for dinner. Şirince is a formerly Greek village about 15 minutes away from Selçuk, up a windy road on a steep hill. It's incredibly cute, which helps explain why it's become somewhat of a tourist destination.

See how cute?!

We got there after the crowds had left, though, and wandered around a bit taking footage and snapping photos before settling down to eat at Şirincem. The owner, Ali, took a liking to us and asked Marcos to take his picture, which we will email to him. Our table had an unimpeded view of the village on the hill, and I proceeded to take pictures as the night wore on:

We got the karnıyarık, split eggplant filled with ground meat (one of the words that Deniz taught us!), which was very tasty (especially with the pickled cabbage), the hummus (better than the stuff we had a couple nights ago––this reminded me of the now-gone Humble Beagle's version), and the gözleme with mushrooms, minced meat, and cheese, which was saltier and therefore tastier than the meat one we got yesterday.

Ali also gave us free watermelon afterwards, which was sweet and oh so tasty. Including drinks (non-alcoholic) and tip, it was 30 TL, roughly $7.50 each. Not too shabby by American standards, but I was glad we hadn't bought lunch!

Şirince is known for their fruit wines, so after dinner we wandered down the street a bit and tried a bunch of wines at one of the local stores.

Om nom nom

A full bottle of Şirince-made wine was 15 TL (the guidebook had said they run TL 10-20), and after taste-testing all 8 we walked away with bottles of the apple (elma), sour cherry (vişne! we all know I love my vişne), and strawberry (çilek, which the boy who was giving us tastes said women like, presumably because it's sweet––Marcos was a big fan, naturally). If we can't finish them before we leave Turkey, we can bring them to Berlin and have them on my birthday!

Tomorrow, we drive to Bodrum, where we'll purchase our tickets on the gület (boat) for the cruise the next day. Should be another relatively relaxing day! Though maybe with swimming, whee!